Claro 2.1 Quick start Claro is an equaliser that aids the production process from composition to final mix. Three different views progressively add more in-depth insight and precision as you need it. Produce view streamlines Claro into a quick, creative, and non-distracting EQ. Tweak view zeroes in on the Produce result, opening up further correctional possibilities - Our cleanest, most flexible filters yet with a realtime analyser that adapts to your your EQ moves and helps to visualise resonances.
If you're writing/producing, try using only Produce view to start with. Make quick tone shaping moves as you add musical elements. Try to resist Tweaking details early on. 2.1.3 Adding Claro to an existing mixing project If you're working on a project that's ready for or in the middle of a final mix, try adding Claro to all tracks, buses, and effects returns. Then open the Claro instance on a lead track (e.g. vocals) and explore in Mix view. That track is your Reference.
2.2 How to use Claro While writing music in a DAW with plug-in synths, loops, and drum machines, source sounds all tend to take up lots of space across the spectrum. This can quickly lead to a very busy sounding mix. At this stage, a little bit of tone shaping goes a long way - if we can make what we're hearing a little closer to how a final mix could sound, we'll be able to make our musical choices with that final sound in mind.
2.2.1 Produce Gut feeling is the key here. We can see immediately where in the spectrum the sound's energy is vs where we would like it to be - not just in terms of Hz, but in the language we usually use to describe sounds. Just drag a horizontal slider towards Definition, if that's what we want more or less of, then drag the circular gain control up and down to taste. The same goes for the low and high cut filters above the energy meter.
Tone and Width On stereo tracks a Tone | Width button appears in the plugin footer. Toggle it to switch Produce view between overall stereo Tone shaping and stereo Width shaping. Bright Width metering shows regions of the spectrum with wide stereo image, while dark areas show where the signal is narrow (or mono). Bands that boost or cut in regions with little or no Width will sound like they're bypassed.
2.2.2 Tweak When you need to get really surgical, dive into Tweak view! All of your tone shaping moves from Produce view are carried over and can be further adjusted, and up to 16 additional bands can be added. EQ controls When multiple bands are selected, Gain, Frequency, Q, and Slope are adjusted relatively while Shape and Channel are adjusted absolutely.
Floating Controls Gain (dB) : Gain (dB) controls float on the left and right sides of the EQ display, in line with the selected band. Drag vertically to adjust the band's Gain without adjusting Frequency, or Double Click to enter a precise value. Frequency (Hz, Note) Q control : Frequency (Hz, Note) controls float below and above the selected band. Drag left/right to adjust the band's Frequency without adjusting Gain, or Double Click to enter a precise value in Hz or as a Note value.
Piano note value display This display shows the note value of the current band's centre Frequency. Double Click the value to enter a note value to set the band to. Adaptive spectral metering Claro's spectral metering adapts to your EQ moves to always show the most useful information - whether you're tweaking overall tonal balance or resonance- hunting, on the stereo channel or on left, right, mid or side sub-channels.
It's common to find these unwanted resonances by boosting with a narrow Bell band and sweeping the Frequency up and down. The idea is that the resonances we want to reduce will jump out the most, showing us where to place our EQ band. In practice, though, this approach has downsides. In short, all parts of a signal tend to sound quite bad when sweeping a narrow boost. And when we decide where to place our EQ cut, we've just been listening to an exagerrated version of the "problem" area.
2.2.3 Mix View Claro's Mix view contains all the information you need to understand and assemble your mix. All Claro instances in your project are displayed in context for you to prioritise, allocate space, explore interactions and quickly mitigate excessive overlaps. A single Claro Mix view allows you to very quickly explore your entire mix and tweak any two Claro instances at the same time without needing to find and juggle many plugin windows.
Overlap metering and masking The yellow overlap areas show where the Reference Track and Working Track are overlapping enough that the Reference is struggling to cut through the mix. Sometimes these excessive overlaps are called "collisions" or, more precisely, "spectral masking". Masking occurs when a frequency range of one signal is sufficiently louder than the same frequency range in a second signal such that our ear-brain system doesn't notice that frequency range in the quieter signal.
Masking is not always bad All mixes, including our favourites, contain lots of masking. Instruments and voices overlapping helps the mix blend together with character that is greater than the sum of its parts. • • Less masking makes elements sound more distinct. This can be desirable, for example when we want melodies and lyrics to be highly intelligible, or when the groove of the music relies on the interplay between kick and bass in the Warmth - Body range.
In this case, pushing the lead vocal track's fader up might be a more effective first move than boosting its Presence or attenuating the Presence of other tracks. If this vocal was already sitting at the volume you want, but still wasn't intelligible enough, tweaking the balance of Presence across multiple tracks would help. Tip: Excessive masking of lead elements suggests that an alternate musical arrangement may be even more effective than volume or tone tweaking.
2.3 Tech notes 2.3.1 Auto Gain What is it for? Boosting with an EQ makes the track sound louder, which can give the impression that it sounds better. Even when comparing two signals which are identical apart from a slight difference in volume, we still tend to perceive the louder one as sounding better.
How Claro’s auto gain is different Claro's Auto Gain follows the spectrum of the input signal. If you boost or cut in a region which contains no energy the track will stay the same loudness - just like when auto gain is disabled. If you boost or cut in a region which does contain energy the output gain is automatically adjusted so that the loudness of your signal stays the same loudness.
2.3.2 Stereo tone shaping Overview On stereo tracks Claro bands can be set to process the overall stereo signal (processing left and right channels equally), or set to process only the Left, Right, Mid, or Side sub-channel. This allows sub-channels to be processed differently, for example to boost Definition on the left while attenuating Definition on the right in order to bring right-heavy hi-hats in a drum loop into the centre.
Side channel Width processing is achieved by processing the difference between the left and right channels. Because of this, we advise being careful when boosting Side channel bands. Drastically increasing the difference between the left and right channels of a stereo signal can, rather than sounding increasingly wide, begin to sound unnatural.
2.4 Compatibility 2.4.1 Supported DAWs Claro Produce and Tweak views are compatible with all DAWS which accept VST3 or AU plugins, and with Pro Tools (AAX). Mix view support relies on plugin extensions which some DAWs do not fully support. 2.4.2 VST3 and AU Please use VST3 in all DAWs which support VST3 and AU. Claro's Mix view is only supported for the AU format in Logic Pro X. 2.4.3 Mix view compatibility VST3 Mix view relies on the Presonus plugin extensions.
2.5 Troubleshooting Mix View: Some instances are not visible in the track list • • Cause: If Audio Unit and VST3 instances are used in the same project, the Audio Units will only show other Audio Units, and the VST3s will only show other VST3s. Fix: Replace the Audio Units with VST3s. Mix View: All tracks show in a single folder or have no name • • Cause: Using Audio Unit instances in any DAW except for Logic Pro. Fix: Replace all instances with VST3.
